5 Tips to Becoming a Sales Star

The following tips are in no particular order. They are 5 things that I have always found to be significant in my own progress as a successful portfolio manager within varying industries.

#1 Sales Stars will learn to recognise risk and reward within their portfolios.

Some businesses may require more work and finesse but will bring a higher return. Other sales leads may require minimal work and may yield a large number of small sales but the low investment required will still justify the smaller revenues generated or the lower margins.

“In some cases, a well-organised sales portfolio may show that certain companies and clients require more work and yet they rarely yield returns that justify the amount of investment required to nurture, develop and manage them. “Warren Buffet

The Sales Star, with the guidance of senior level management should carefully evaluate all activities within their sales portfolio’s to determine where to invest time and resources to generate the highest returns (revenues and profits). You won’t succeed in sales if you can’t do this effectively!

Great salespeople have an intuitive ability to understand this risk reward relationship regarding their pipeline.

They will manage their sales pipeline intelligently. View the pipeline as more of a sales portfolio, and are not afraid to integrate successful strategies from other industries into their own sales techniques to try and “test” to see which ones work, and which ones don’t.

#2 The close of the sale begins right at the start.

The sales star by having a plan in place, will know the outcome long before they get to the end of this routine process, and they do it by ensuring that; they have a well qualified prospect, they know the prospect’s dominant buying motives, they have identified all of their potential objections before they are even expressed, they have carefully observed the various buying signals from the prospect and they have given an effective and interactive presentation.

They know long before they ask their closing question what the answer will be.

By being effective at people reading, by asking intelligent, effective and appropriate probing qualifying questions, by being good listeners and by asking a variety of trial closing questions throughout the sales process. They don’t try and force a fit. They discover the prospects sense of urgency or they create it.

They are in the prospect’s presence to sell not educate. They are there to do business or develop business. From their opening remark to their final closing statement their attitude is I am here to sell or set up future sales opportunities. This does not mean that they are applying pressure or hard-selling. It means they are serious about helping the prospect solve their problems or take advantage of opportunities.

#3 Focus on one sale at a time and you’ll make a living. Build a trusting relationship and you can make a fortune.

Some salespeople focus on just closing the sale. Successful salespeople focus on closing the sale and building a relationship.

Selling is not about only closing the current prospect on a particular product or service that solves one of their pressing problems. It is about building a trusting relationship with them. By becoming a trusted resource, we help in solving their on-going problems, or satisfying their continuing and evolving needs and desires.

Sales stars know that the lifetime value of a client is far more than the value of one sale or transaction. They take along view of the relationship. It is not just about this sale but future sales, referrals and building customer trust and loyalty.

#4 They will work as hard to keep the business as they did to get it in the first place.

A key concept to keep in mind while selling is that the close of the sale is not the end of the sales process, but the beginning of the sales relationship.

After-sales service is the key to keeping sales closed and keeping customers satisfied and buying again. It can often be a subtle test to see if you can really deliver.

The key is to promise a lot and deliver more. In other words, exceed customer expectations – wow them with service. Poor salespeople continuously promise a lot and deliver less, or promise a little and deliver next to nothing.

Sales superstars know that to ensure repeat business, customer loyalty, positive references and qualified referrals that their after sales service must be one of their strengths.

#5 There is no better investment than investment in yourself.

Over the years, one common denominator in sales super stars is their willingness to invest in the continued improvement of their skills, attitudes and philosophy.

Life is an interesting relationship between paying the price of investment and looking to gain a return on the time and money spent. Interestingly this is the same relationship you are trying to sell to your prospects.

There are hundreds of books to read, audio CD’s to listen to and seminars to attend. It is never to late to start. The important factor is passion and dedication.

Sales stars don’t wait for their businesses to invest in them and their future value. They take full responsibility for the quality of their life and learning. They are pro-active in seeking out learning opportunities. They use professional coaches, have mentors and belong to mastermind groups.

They are constantly taking advantage of networking opportunities looking for all types of people who can help them improve.